BLOGS

Hard to believe three novels later all the years I dreamt of writing books that it really happened. When I think of all the hard work that went into getting them written and published, it certainly becomes real!
Now that 'Book of Dragon's Teeth' is a few days away from release, there's no 'breather' because I have other writing projects in the pipeline and working on a tv show and developing one as well.  I'm also seriously thinking about going to get my Ph.D. in Digital Media Studies (what else?) So that's going to be a process on its own!

In the meantime, those of you who haven't read the two previous books from the TFLR Series you can find them at:

Book Two: TFLR: THE GRAY MAN

Book One: Tales from the Long Road

Opportunity's 10-year anniversary: still working for us.

Amazing illustration by Tina KrugerThere have been some great discussion on this topic since Childrens book council came out with some startling stats on the subject. Like this article by Lee and Low Books and this short on NPR. Weigh on yall. There are the obvious points, but who is leading the charge in changing this?

-Robert Trujillo

Science Universe blog

Einstein is lauded for Special and General Relativity, but he stood on the shoulders of giants before him: Sir Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell, Albert Abraham Michelson and Edward Williams Morley; Minkowski, Joseph Larmor, Hendrick Antoon Lorentz and Jules Henri Poincaré.

Nobel Prize: History of Special Relativity
Physics arXiv: Henri Poincaré and Relativity Theory, by A. A. Logunov

It's been a long time coming but amidst economic meltdowns, personal health issues, family tragedies and the everyday fight to stay the course working in the field I love most, the sequel to 'The Gray Man' is complete! Hard to believe I was halfway through writing the initial draft when family tragedy and my work in film & TV production took off at the same time back in 2006.

I finished the first draft in 2010 despite everything happening (most of it bad!) I finally got the edits done last year and have been fighting tooth and nail to get the cover art done. After a (very) short break, it's off to the publisher and let the 'promotional games' begin!

If all that weren't enough (obviously it isn't), I've got several projects ongoing including one which is a collaborative work with some authors well known (and loved) here at the BSFS! So while I'm getting the new season of 'The Priestess' ready to go this month, I'll be working on a new television extreme sports show and prepping to make another movie (way overdue for that!) In the meantime, ETP (estimated time of publishing) for 'Book of Dragon's Teeth' is late July or early August. For you fans of TFLR, you have my sincerest apologies for the long wait!

These three-dimensional tri-gate (FinFET) transistors are among the 3-D microchip structures that could be measured using through-focus scanning optical microscopy (TSOM) - Courtesy, Intel Corporation

NIST:
Microscopy Technique Could Help Computer Industry Develop 3-D Components

...and, physicists know how to do it! ~!!!~

Physics arXiv:
Quantum Teleportation of Dynamics and Effective Interations between Remote Systems

  I paused to praise a man in the twilight of life.  One brave enough to fight for his brethren, sacrifice 27 years of his life in a small dingy cell on an island that seems a lifetime away from everything one loves, and one who rose to exultation in 1994 to become president of the very people he was shackled for defending.  AMANDLA! 
     Mandela, there are few like you past and present, that have ever walked the earth.  A man who could stare down fear and hate, and survive!  There are no words that could truly do you justice.  As you prepare to leave this place, as you prepare to lock in the embrace of the heavens and continue your great work in the Angelic realms, just know that I, that we, are grateful that you walked amongst us.  I would like to thank your children, your wives, and your close friends, for their hardships and sacrifices as well.  I would like to thank them for lending you to us, for supporting you, and helping you to become the hero that you are.
     Mandela, my eyes widened with wonder when you were released from prison on February 11, 1990.  I sat on the chest in my grandmothers room and asked, "Who is this man?  Why is everyone sooo happy?" I was seven years old.  Henceforth, I read all of the articles and watched all of the news reports about the horrors of apartheid and your hero's journey.  20 years later, I had the opportunity to visit South Africa, to understand what Hell apartheid was, to see the ineffable poverty, and  to bear witness to the journey of healing that South Africa still must travel.  Again, to what you have given, there are truly no words.
     Mandela, you are about to join Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Marcus Garvey, Medgar Evers, and so many other freedom fighters, my God, what good company you are in!  I cannot wait to see what amazing work you do from the heavens!  I'm just glad that I was able to see your amazing work in my lifetime.  Thank you Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, you are appreciated. AMANDLA!

American Institute of Physics: US Physics Degrees Reach an All-Time High
American Physical Society: Why Study Physics?

SKC awarded its first four-year STEM degree, in environmental science, in 1997. Since then, SKC has added baccalaureate programs in computer engineering, forestry, hydrology, information technology, life science, and secondary science education. The programs aim to provide additional career opportunities, and to promote long-term economic development of reservation communities. Today's STEM graduates will be tomorrow's entrepreneurs who provide economic opportunities for tribal members. Economically-strong tribal communities help preserve the cultures, languages, histories, and natural environment of their constituents.

Physics Today POV: Teaching science and engineering at a tribal college

 From the start I face palmed my entire time seeing the trailer for once again while White audiences are given Superman and Thor, Black audiences are graced with yet another Black maid/servant movie. Now don't get me wrong the movie seems to have a solid cast and I would give anything to bet one of the Black cast members will be rewarded with an Oscar for being a maid or butler. While watching the movies trailer on YouTube I couldn't help but to look at the comments to see what others were saying about the film and one comment posted was that stories like these need to be told. While I agree to a certain extent I still beg the question how long will this story be told? Is this the only story Black Americans have to tell? Are moving stories from the Black mind only about being some "dignified" Black servant for White America?

 The character of the Black servant be it historical or fictional has been a character that Hollywood has had no problem marketing. From Gone with the Wind in 1939 to The Help in 2011 to The Butler in 2013 the character of the black servant is slowly being reintroduced in modern society. All these films seem to tell the movie going audiences that no matter how bad Black servants where treated during these time periods Black maids and butlers didn't care and saw some type of dignity in what they are doing. On top of that you throw in a few "Good" White people to let both white and black audiences know that not all Whites were bad doing this time. To many times we get into the habit of believing these stories are true simply because there was a time when these things did happen and that somehow these films are good to the black mind to see what we know to be untrue to suddenly become true because "good" white people are behind it.

When it comes to historical movies about African-Americans the only movies that are successful are Black servants films but movies depicting African-Americans as heroes like in Red Tails or a messiah type character like in Malcolm X seem doomed to fail. Why? Because it is my opinion that Black people have been conditioned only to see themselves in a certain way. White audiences are given the images of themselves as Superman, Iron man, and Thor but Black audiences are given Precious and The Help and I believe that there is a reason for this. How many movies have been made on Abraham Lincoln? How many World War 2 films have been made? How many American western films are made? My point in saying this is these films are Historical films yet they all showing different sides of White American history. When it comes to Black American history or The World history of Black people we are only given one side of the story as if our history begins and ends in a state of servitude. Where are the epic films on the Nubian Pharaohs of Africa? We seem to have hundreds on the "great" accomplishments of the Greeks and Romans!

  Films like The Butler may be true stories and may move hearts, but I believe those are stories that white audiences are comfortable seeing and Black audiences are conditioned to accept. Anything beyond that territory will ultimately begin to wake up the hearts and minds of black people.

By Chaz Ebert, wife of the Late Roger Ebert

Roger was writing reviews right until the very end. One day in the hospital I suggested that he take a break from work-related writing and write something creative that made him feel like he did when he was writing science fiction articles for fanzines when he was a boy. He began writing "The Thinking Molecules of Titan", a story about space exploration set in part at his beloved University of Illinois. 

He never got a chance to finish it.  

In the spirit of Roger's belief in crowd participation, we're having a contest to help complete the story.

Write your own ending and email it to us at contests@ebertdigital.com, with the subject header "TITAN ENDING", followed by your FULL NAME. 

We'll gather the submissions and narrow it down to a select group of finalists, solicit your votes on which is the best, and announce the winner on the site. -- Chaz

The story so far:

The Thinking Molecules Of Titan

When looking at this picture I was initially amazed, since I believed it to be something that it is not.

What it is, is a group of businessmen looking at the hull of a larger early 20th century cruise liner. Possibly the Titanic, but it could be anything from the Lusitania to some unknown ship that was sunk during the Battle of the Atlantic.

However, what it looked to me at first glance, was the undercarriage of a great Airship. These gentlemen, these Aeronauts, were proudly embarking on a circumnavigation of the globe in their floating dreadnought. Armed with wits and guns and inevitable communicable diseases, they would venture into the dense jungles of Amazonia . On their journeys, they would encounter the fabled lost cities described by defrocked Jesuit Francisco DeOriana, fight dangerous Air-Pirates and commit wanton acts of Derring-Do.

Of course, none of this happened, but it is an important lesson for any story teller or historian. Context matters. Context told me I was looking at the ribs of a giant inflatable balloon, not the walkways to a ship deck.

Context matters to story tellers because we can slant stories in a certain way. Make certain people the heroes or the villains, depending on the context, depending on the point of view.

In fiction, it used to be that POCs were typically the enemy, or if not worthy of fear, then contempt.

(See Armageddon 2419AD for a pretty racist view of both Asians and Africans)

POC and depictions of them have changed in the 80 years since 2419 published. Partly that is because of context. Consumers and their tastes have changed. While POC have not achieved parity in terms of "hero" status, actors such as Will Smith and Vin Diesel have proven that there is a commercial market for a POC as the heroic lead.  In order to see greater representation in both interactive and static entertainment, authors have to continue to shift the context.

However, context shifting has to be more than preaching to some POC choir. It has to involve moving the context of what a hero does, what he or she looks like, and what is the nature of heroism. If you are fighting on someone else's ground, you will always be seen in their context.

It would like to say that we at MM are doing that, but the honest truth is that we haven't done it well enough.

Amazon.com: Ender's Game Box Set

July, the Priestess Returns!
Many new questions rose at the end of Season Two as the now grown Little Fish set out from the protection of Valley Realm as he learned to control the power of the mystical Fishscale! Who is the mortal threat to the life of the Priestess the Valley Knight was warned of by the Dark God Qatula? Can the 'truth within lies' from Qatula be trusted? What unseen consequences from the Aesir Chief's breaking of the conditions for his return to the Valley set down by the 'Future Little Fish' will come to pass? What role will the new Goddess Okavanga protector of the Delta Boundary play in the coming events foreseen by the Priestess? And, what great power will come forth to challenge the Mighty Priestess and bring the shadow of destruction to the Valley? Much will be revealed and risked by all in Season Three of 'The Priestess!'

Space.Com: First Trailer for Sci-Fi Thriller 'Europa Report' Unveiled
Man of Steel: GlyphCreator.ManofSteel.com